I've wondered about Rodin's famous sculpture. Is he engaged in deep thought or sitting around wasting time? And why isn't he wearing pants? I ask the same of myself. Here we comment on well, mostly politics. Or we may just sit! If you like it, tell a friend. If not, tell us, but please read the GROUND RULES before you do.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Rich Lowry:“I'm sure I'm not the only male in America who, when you, Sarah, dropped your first wink, sat up a little straighter on the couch and said, "Hey, I think you just winked at me." And your smile. By the end, it was so sparkling it was almost mesmerizing. It sent little starbursts through the screen and ricocheting around the living rooms of America. This is a quality that can't be learned; it's either something you have or you don't, and man, you’ve got it.”NR – Oct. 3, 2008

Sarah Palin: “We still need to 'drill, baby, drill!' And if those in D.C. say otherwise, we need to tell them: 'Yes, we can!”NR – Oct. 16, 2009

Rich Lowry:“Oh Sarah …”

Hey Rich, I think Sarah’s coming on to you! She just winked … You betcha!

Why, oh why do you insist on playing bipartisan footsie with Senate Republicans -- THREE QUARTERS OF THEIR NUMBERS THAT VOTED AGAINST THE FRANKEN AMENDMENT?!?

If ever there was justifiable cause for the Democratic Party to STAND ALONE with its filibuster-proof majority in the Senate to pass good -- SLAM DUNK -- public policy on healthcare reform and EVERYTHING ELSE, this is it. IT'S NOT A CLOSE CALL.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

"I try to treat everyone equally," he said. "He" being Keith Bardwell, a justice of the peace in Tangiphoa Parish in Louisiana.

I'm not quite sure he knows what "equally" means. Mr. Bardwell's name popped up in a news story when it came out that he refuses to marry interracial couples on the grounds that he thinks it will be bad for their children. He has no problem, apparently, with marrying black couples, just interracial ones.

"If he does an interracial marriage for one couple, he must do the same for all, he said."

Why yes, that is what that would mean. And by treating everyone equally, he's discriminating against some couples and not others?

Maybe he's referring to the despicable treatment that the right has given to that downtrodden product of an interracial union, y'know, old what's his name? Oh, yeah, the President of the United States.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu’s craven betrayal of the public interest, core Democratic Party principles, and her own not-so-sacred honor in reneging on a signed pledge only six months ago to support the public option in healthcare reform, has earned her first inductee dishonor to the Thinker’s DINOS Hall of Shame.

In an astonishing display of arrogance and contempt for the taxpayers who pay her salary, Senator Landrieu today dismissed the polls showing consistent 65% public support for the public option nationwide “because people think the public option is free.”

Oh really. Who the HELL do you think you are, Senator? Do you think the public is a deadbeat who wants something (universal affordable healthcare) for nothing? Or do you think the public is too stupid to understand the public option would offer more choice and competition against the stranglehold of the insurance companies, and therefore healthcare affordability.

Six months ago, in a signed letter to the coalition Health Care for America Now (HCAN) you pledged to support a "choice of a private insurance plan, including keeping the insurance you have if you like it, or a public insurance plan without a private insurer middleman that guarantees affordable coverage."

Today, your tune has changed from the lilting sounds of Cajun and Creole to Sympathy for the Devil and Deal with the Devil. You said: “I'm not open to it. I'm not open to a public option. However, I will remain open to a compromise, a full compromise. Public option is not something that I support. I don't think it's the right way to go."

What happened, Senator? Did the insurance lobby get to you?

Your state of Louisiana in 2006 received per-capita the highest distribution of federal spending among states ($16,263). Hayley Barbour’s Mississippi was second ($14,516), followed by Sarah Palin’s Alaska ($13,805). All conservative Republican red states, whose elected officials, hypocrites, clamor the loudest against the evil intrusions of the feds with their “big government.” Is that why your governor Bobby flies around on the state taxpayers’ dime to Mr. Jindal’s neighborhood parishes, distributing oversized stimulus checks as if they came from the state’s own coffers instead of the nation’s taxpayers’ wallets?

How dare you, Senator Landrieu.

You call yourself a Democrat, and yet the only politician to step forward to gleefully applaud your betrayal was Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who said, “Apparently Sen. Landrieu just made an announcement that a government plan is a bad idea, and so I would strongly recommend to the administration, and to the majority in Congress, that if we're serious about getting a bipartisan health reform bill, the best way to go forward on a bipartisan basis would be to take out the government plan.”

Congratulations for being a Democratic Party and corporate sellout, Senator Landrieu.

To commemorate your betrayal, Senator, you get your very own portrait in Hell to go with your induction to the DINOS Hall of Shame. Pictured below is the Triple-6 Beast standing at your shoulder, while health insurance executives frolic worshipfully before you in a Dyonisian feast of greed and excess. Your constituents are nowhere to be found. Now Democrats have something to aim for: Senator Landrieu’s defeat in the primaries to a REAL Democrat, and not another penny in campaign contributions.

[Postscript: Honorable Mention goes to Senator Joe Lieberman. The only reason he did not make the cut is that he is not a Democrat, but a nominal “Independent” Republocrat who caucuses with the Democrats.

Senator Lieberman has been keeping his powder dry, if you will, for quite some time since supporting John McCain in the last presidential election and declaring President Obama unqualified for high office. Despite the Democratic Party’s largesse, allowing Lieberman to retain his seniority and subcommittee chairmanship, Lieberman waited patiently for this moment –- the moment of greatest impact -- to stab the President and the Democratic Party in the back.

Said Lieberman: “I mean — yes, I mean a government-run health insurance plan. The public doesn’t support it.” (This, of course, is a LIE.) He continued: “the only opportunity to achieve significant reform with bipartisan support is if the public option is off the table. There will be no shot at 60 votes because I’m not the only one against it.”]

The choice is clear: Passing a watered-down pro-insurance non-reform bill with 60 votes, or passing REAL healthcare reform with 50 + 1 votes on reconciliation that includes a robust public option, a strong employer mandate, and repeal of the insurance companies’ antitrust exemption.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

How annoying is it to hear Wolfe Blitzer repeat ad nauseum that B.S. about the "best political team on television." Rarely can I watch CNN before its self-indulgent self-promotion in search of competent political news reporting intrudes with a click. In short, CNN SUCKS!

Thanks to America's most trusted news anchor, comedian extraordinaire Jon Stewart, for exposing the pathetic supercilious excuse for journalism that is AC 360. Among others.

Incidentally, one of the right wing hack regulars on the AC 360 franchise, Dan Castellanos, a Cuban American Cold Warrior cited on this blog for his outrageous reactionary views, runs a political consulting firm that is an ad buyer for the AHIP (Ass Hole Insurance Plans of America) anti-healthcare reform campaign. I wonder how image-obsessed AC 360 (C)oops will handle this glaring conflict of interest.

The GOP, in an effort to, do something, has a new website up. On it, they list a bunch of Republican "Heroes," and a sizeable chunk of them are African-American. A quick glance, however, shows that all but one of them were born before the Civil War, and the most recent is Jackie Robinson. I don't know if anyone remembers, but an awful lot of African-Americans were Republican for a very long time, for some reason.

Oh, I know, it's because Abe Lincoln was a Republican.

Then came the civil rights movement, and the southern strategy, and Goldwater and Nixon and then the whole modern GOP, which basically told everyone who wasn't white to go screw themselves.

Methinks it will be a while before any more non-white faces join the list.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

This morning, Michelle and I awoke to some surprising and humbling news. At 6 a.m., we received word that I'd been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009.

To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who've been honored by this prize -- men and women who've inspired me and inspired the entire world through their courageous pursuit of peace.

But I also know that throughout history the Nobel Peace Prize has not just been used to honor specific achievement; it's also been used as a means to give momentum to a set of causes.

That is why I've said that I will accept this award as a call to action, a call for all nations and all peoples to confront the common challenges of the 21st century. These challenges won't all be met during my presidency, or even my lifetime. But I know these challenges can be met so long as it's recognized that they will not be met by one person or one nation alone.

This award -- and the call to action that comes with it -- does not belong simply to me or my administration; it belongs to all people around the world who have fought for justice and for peace. And most of all, it belongs to you, the men and women of America, who have dared to hope and have worked so hard to make our world a little better.

So today we humbly recommit to the important work that we've begun together. I'm grateful that you've stood with me thus far, and I'm honored to continue our vital work in the years to come.